Konami’s Press Event in San Francisco on Thursday night showcased a brand new title based on the well-known comic book series, Hellboy. Planned for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PSP, the Krome Studios-developed action title will focus on a brand new storyline that’s relevant more to the comic book plot, rather than re-envisioning the events that occurred from the motion-picture a couple years back.

Hellboy revolves around the “evil-hero’s” fight against the Nazis, who in turn are looking to extend their vision of world domination. Hellboy is up against the crazed Hermann Von Klempt, a villain that mirrors some of our hero’s special superhuman abilities. The story will also cross paths with classic characters from the comic book, straying away more from the more known character that we already know form the movie.

The game demo that we tried out during Konami’s event was straight off the 360 port, since the PS3 surprisingly didn’t make an appearance. Evident from the start, Hellboy’s environmental effects, both lighting and texturing, are above-average with some crisp lightning effects, and a trail of light emitting from Hellboy’s powerful arm. Most might see the game as a button-masher at first, especially due to the hordes of enemies that come into the picture, but Krome Studios’ “explosive” battle system has some interesting moves that are out of the ordinary.

The demo level showcased a contextual grappling system that allows players to press button combos to do different things, such as grabbing a small enemy, ripping their head off, and using that as a projectile to throw towards another oncoming nuisance. However, thanks to the interactive environments in the game, you’re able to interact with so many “props” in a map – such as throwing a minion into spikes latched on a tree or hurling them to break through a wall. Hellboy is also able to charge up his attacks for some ground-shattering moves, for better area-of-effect situations. When presented with a wall in front of him, pressing the quick attack button (X) repeatedly will allow Hellboy to break through, hence continuing his progress. There are many of these breakable walls in this trial area, evidence that these environments are more destructible that they seem initially. It just looks so pretty that it doesn’t initially seem that way. You can literally bring down the house on top of your enemies, or use things such as pipes on the walls to find better ways of dealing out the damage. Hellboy also can fire his gun by pressing the left trigger button, a weapon that is used sparingly, but great for long-distance encounters. There’s bound to be some amazing bosses too, including the tentacle beast that we saw at the end of the first motion picture (there’s a second one in the making). If one had to compare these elements together, God of War and Devil May Cry come to mind.

Hellboy will be voiced by Ron Perlman, who portrayed Hellboy in the 2004 film. Being able to play as series favorites Abe Sapein and Liz Sherman will support the game’s cooperative multiplayer mode, a gameplay aspect that we have yet to see. Even Konami mentioned that a special, unannounced character will be the final addition to the roster. With creative direction form Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and movie director Guillermo Del Toro overseeing the game’s development, Konami has an interesting project on their hands. If Krome Studios can deliver and erase presumptions about mediocre movie games, then the 2007 release of Hellboy just might be a heaven’s blessing for the series’ fans.